IJzij

After the opening of the car tunnel last July, a new milestone for IJzijde is opening today, a pedestrian and bicycle tunnel from downtown Amsterdam below Central Station towards the ferries. The tunnel has the largest hand-painted tile tableau of Netherlands! It’s 3 meters high, 110 meters long and 10 meters wide.

Charles Mann, of Project IJsei, is happy: “The tunnel is for cyclists and pedestrians a direct and comfortable connection between the city and the IJ, so the busy routes are relieved around the station.” The tunnel is not only practical but also beautiful , he says. “There is a very clear distinction between the pedestrian and cyclists part. They are as it were, two hooks which engage in one another. And the tableau is beautiful.”

With more than 77,000 tiles, this is the largest hand-painted tableau of the country, designed by Irma Boom, and produced, one-by-one by Koninklijke Tichelaar, Makkum. Charles: “People who have seen the tableau – for example, during National Construction Day or during a tour – are always very enthusiastic. The tableau is a variation on a representation of a warship and a herring fleet. The original seascape was made by Cornelis Bouwmeester and dates from the first quarter of the 18th century.

IJ is the name of the water that cuts the northern part from the rest of the city. ‘Zij’ is short voor ‘zijde’ which means side. You should know the comments that went everywhere when the National Film Institute opened its new building along the IJ water way, it’s called EYE as in eye (seeing) and Y which also means IJ.